Climbing the vine

Being a total teetotaller, I was the only one to-day not sampling the delights of various wines, grown on the beautiful Pembrokeshire Coast in Wales. Whilst my friends were absorbed in the blends
of grapes and fruits, I was absorbed in the process of how it all ended up in a bottle.

Madeleine d’Angevine and Seyval Blanc are just two of the
white grape vines I could see, as I strolled through the rain drenched fields to where these acclimatised vines grow in abundance. The only red vines were the Triomph d’Alsace, growing on the gentle, south facing, slopes.

If the sun had been shining it would have been easy to imagine that I was strolling through the vineyards of France or Italy with the rich green rolling hills in the background and chickens running at
my feet. A bouquet of scents pervaded through the air as my coat brushed against the hedgerow confusing my senses. I had to remind myself that I was in Wales, on a typical summer’s day, walking in the rain through a vineyard.

I noted several rows of willow whips, planted as a windbreak on the northern boundary. This, I guess was to produce a better meso-climate to protect the vines. The owners had worked hard to produce such
an amazing place one would normally expect to find in Italy or France, but I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place for a vineyard than here in beautiful Wales.